One of the age-old problems that have existed with firearms is the fact that many of them have severe recoil that affects the person firing the weapon. In firearms such as shotguns and rifles, the rear end of the butt stock is positioned against the shooter's shoulder and the recoil often causes the shooter to raise the front of the firearm each time the weapon is fired. The amount of recoil varies depending upon the amount of explosive being fired and the recoil can result in pain or bruising to the shoulder area. One example of the recoil being detrimental to a shooter's accuracy is when the firearm is a shotgun being used for skeet shooting by a man or a woman.
In the past, the best prior art recoil systems for the butt stock of a firearm have been very expensive and the inexpensive systems did not function properly. Two examples of expensive systems are a hydro-coil fluid dampening system and a pneumatic air chamber system. The present day inexpensive recoil systems utilize compression coil springs to absorb the recoil forces. If the compression coil spring is a little too strong, you get more recoil than with a regular firearm. If the compression coil spring is not strong enough it is worse, in that it gives the gun some travel and it is the same as holding the butt stock too loosely.
One of the improvements in recoil systems for a firearm is illustrated in the Bentley et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,722,195. It has a pistol grip recoil assembly having a recoil base member and a pistol grip. The recoil base member is detachably secured to the rear end of the receiver of the firearm and it has an inverted T-shaped rail formed on its bottom wall. This inverted T-shaped rail is captured within and slides in an inverted T-shaped groove in the top end of the pistol grip. A recess formed in the front wall of the pistol grip adjacent its top end allows the trigger guard of the firearm to travel rearwardly with respect to the pistol grip when the firearm is fired. Various embodiments utilize springs to return the recoil base member forwardly to its static position after dissipating the recoil of the firearm resulting from its being fired.
Another recent improved recoil system for a firearm is illustrated in the Bentley et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,752,339. This patent discloses a recoil system for the butt stock of a firearm having a recoil suppressor assembly whose front end is mounted in the cavity in the rear end of the gunstock. The piston ram of the recoil suppressor assembly in its static position extends rearwardly into a borehole cavity of an elongated recoil housing. When the firearm is shot, the elongated body portion of the recoil suppressor assembly and it's transversely extending mounting flange portion instantaneously travel rearwardly into the bore cavity with the bore hole of the body housing reciprocally traveling over the piston ram. A coil spring whose front end is secured to the front end of the body portion and whose rear end is secured to a cam assembly returns the elongated body portion to a static position once the recoil of the firearm has been suppressed.
It is an object of the Bentley patented inventions to provide a novel recoil system for a firearm that minimizes the amount of recoil force experienced by the person firing the weapon. It is also an object of the Bentley patented inventions to provide a recoil system for the butt stock of a firearm that minimizes pain to the shoulder to the person firing the weapon due to the recoil forces and muzzle rise. The inventions disclosed and claimed by the aforementioned Bentley patents have been designed for manufactured items and not intended to function in the manner described by the special operations stock with full recoil suppression upgrade.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the stock conversion method in detail it is to be understood that the process is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The upgrading process is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The upgrading process accomplished by the manufacturer using a conversion method to convert the non-recoil suppressing (NRS) stock to a special operations (Spec Ops) stock with full recoil suppression, will be disclosed.